Johnny on the spot as Alouettes prepare to take on Redblacks

While he’s a curiosity thrown into the middle of a hype machine, the guy they call Johnny Football just wants to win football games, starting with a Saturday night date with the Ottawa Redblacks at TD Place stadium.

Thrown into the fire a week ago with a starting assignment against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Johnny Manziel, the former Heisman Trophy winner at Texas A&M (and first-round draft pick of the National Football League’s Cleveland Browns), is trying to eliminate the noise around him and sidestep a travelling carnival.

“It’s been my life for six or seven years. It’s something I deal with, move forward and try to continue on,” Manziel said Friday.

Quarterback Johnny Manziel had a rough first CFL start for the Alouettes, throwing four interceptions in a loss to the Tiger-Cats.Paul Chiasson /
THE CANADIAN PRESS

“I think he’s kind of used to it by now so I don’t think it’s a distraction for him,” Alouettes head coach Mike Sherman said. “Initially it was a bit of a shock to our team. Every question every player was asked was not about them, it was about John. It’s settled down a bit.”

“We’re not really talking about it,” Alouettes fullback and former Redblack Patrick Lavoie said. “We’re focusing on trying to play better every week and win games. Johnny’s a quiet guy in the locker room, so it’s not like he’s making a big splash about it. I’m not going to lie. He’s here for a good reason: that’s to play football. I didn’t know what to expect, but he’s doing his thing.”

As spectacular as Manziel was with a football in his hands through college and his time in the NFL, he stumbled along in real life, with a Google search producing a list of screwups. However, with a second chance at football and maybe in life, Manziel is saying and trying to do all the right things on and off the football field.

“You can imagine what’s on his shoulders. Half the country wants to see him do well, half the country doesn’t,” Sherman said. “People either love him or they don’t. I’m hoping more people love him as he continues to mature and grow as a quarterback. I want him to be better tomorrow than he was last week and we’ll build on that.”

Against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Manziel threw four first-half interceptions, completing 11 of 20 passes for 104 yards in a 50-11 loss.

“You don’t beat yourself up over it,” Manziel said. “You had a bad day at work. If you continue to dwell on that, it does nothing but hurt you moving forward. We have another game seven days after that game last week. You either get ready, continue to work and try to get yourself prepared for the next week or you’re a week behind. I had a rough 24 hours because I did expect more. I did feel like I let my team down a bit.”

The Redblacks say they’re not getting caught up in Manziel’s Canadian Football League saga.

“Enough people have had enough opinions (on what Manziel did last week),” Redblacks head coach Rick Campbell said. “All I know is he’s a good player, we’ll have our hands full. He’s an athletic guy, he can improvise. Any of those quarterbacks who can use their feet and make plays that are off schedule — meaning not the way it was designed up — those guys can scare you.

“I don’t know what else to say. I’ve heard and read so much about the guy. We know he’s a good player, but they have a lot of other guys, too.”

The Redblacks defence will attempt to make Manziel uncomfortable.

“You see the hype, we’re all looking forward to it,” defensive end A.C. Leonard said. “We know he’s a guy who can get outside the pocket and make plays. He’s a very dynamic, electrifying player. As a defensive end, we just keep him in contain. He makes his best plays outside the pocket.”

The Redblacks are coming off a stunning 42-41 loss to the Toronto Argonauts in which they blew a 24-point lead.

“We talk about being resilient, we want to be a team that doesn’t lose two games in a row,” Campbell said. “It’s another big game against an Eastern (Division) opponent.”

Justin Howell, a seventh-round pick in the 2018 CFL draft, will start at safety for the Redblacks on Saturday night. CFL photo.OttSunWP

RAVEN GETS START: It’s looking like more and more of a steal. Seventh-round draft pick Justin Howell, a former Carleton Raven, will start at safety for the Redblacks on Saturday, with Antoine Pruneau moving to linebacker to replace Anthony Cioffi, who’s on the one-game injured list.

“I’m excited, for sure, to get out there,” Howell said. “I’m sure I’ll be fired up, but I’m always ready to go. It’s football. It’s a childhood dream for me: playing a sport I love. Coach (Noel) Thorpe and the rest of the staff have really made it a focal point for me to make sure I’m prepared because you never know in football. Your name could be called out in a game. Nothing changes. I’m going to be getting more playing time … that’s about it.”

Campbell said the Redblacks had “started integrating him into the defence. We had some packages with an extra DB on the field and he’s done that the past few weeks. The game’s not too big for him. Sometimes with rookies, it can get too big with the speed of it.”

Redblacks defensive end Jonathan Newsome is returning to action from injury.Justin Tang /
THE CANADIAN PRESS

END AROUND: Defensive end Jonathan Newsome returns to the Redblacks’ roster from the six-game injured list (a week early), which should gives the defence a boost. “That’s big,” Campbell said. “It was a factor in last week’s game, having just the two American D-ends. Having three three American D-ends plus Nigel (Romick) and Andrew (Marshall) helps us out a lot because on the D-line our focus is always to rotate guys through to keep them fresh. (Newsome) should have fresh legs” … Bodog has released its latest odds of winning the CFL Most Outstanding Player award, with Edmonton Eskimos QB Mike Reilly leading at 2/3, followed by Calgary Stampeders QB Bo Levi Mitchell at 14/5. QB Trevor Harris, according to the website, has the best chance of any Redblack at 20/1 (down from 5/1 a month ago). Receiver Greg Ellingson has gone from 14/1 to off the board, while tailback William Powell, who had been at 22/1, is also not listed.

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